Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 5, 1994 TAG: 9401050120
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
For what seemed like the umpteenth time in the last two weeks, New River Valley residents found themselves digging out from heavy snowfall and ice Tuesday morning.
The storm left thousands without power through Tuesday afternoon and played havoc with school schedules.
No significant additional accumulation was expected Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service.
"We are having problems," said Glenda Wohlford, Appalachian Power Co. administrative assistant for the Pulaski Division covering the New River Valley as well as Carroll, Grayson, Wythe and Bland counties.
A total of 12,500 customers were without power in that region by Tuesday afternoon after tree limbs, made heavy by snow, broke and fell onto power lines.
About 2,400 customers had lost power in Montgomery and Floyd counties, where there was also a problem with a transformer at Willis. Pulaski County got a little less snow than the surrounding area, but still had some 2,000 customers without power.
Apco crews were working around the clock, as were contract crews, and the company was lining up more workers in anticipation of more power outages, Wohlford said.
Dan Brugh, transportation engineer for the counties of Pulaski, Montgomery and Giles, reported a regional average of six inches of snow.
A.B. Broyles, a Montgomery County weather watcher who lives in the Vicker community off Virginia 114, said his area received five inches of snow.
Primary roads were passable in Giles County, a Sheriff's Office dispatcher said, but work was continuing on secondary roads. No major traffic accidents were reported.
Marsha Collins, who works at Mountain Lake Resort, said only three workers made it to the resort Tuesday, braving the winding Virginia 700.
She was unsure how much snow had fallen by Tuesday afternoon on the mountain, which normally records more snowfall than the rest of the region because of its elevation.
Snow was still falling there at 3 p.m. "It's real fine stuff . . . but it hasn't stopped all day," she said.
Pulaski County students, who already missed four days of school due to snow, will miss school again today. The closing will eliminate a day from spring vacation.
The weather prompted Montgomery County public schools' third snow day in less than a month. That leaves two more days built into the schedule before the joys of an unexpected day off for sledding start eating into spring break or adding onto the school year.
As he did for the snow days on Dec. 15 and 21 (the latter of which gave students a one-day jump on winter break), Lorenz V. Schoff hit the road in the wee hours to assess the situation. As Montgomery schools' director of facilities, maintenance and transportation, Schoff is part of the team that makes the call on snow days.
Schoff said he woke up at midnight to begin his snow watch. The slow drizzle of freezing rain continued in Christiansburg until 3:30 a.m., he said, when the snow started in earnest.
Fifteen minutes later, Schoff he was on the road. "I couldn't hardly see," he said. The result was another day off for Montgomery's 8,700 students.
"This is about the most [snow] I can recall, since I've been here, this early" in the winter, Schoff said.
Last year, the system had only used two snow days by the time the Blizzard of '93 struck in mid-March.
While county children could relax, watch TV and otherwise loaf, School Board members and school staff were not so lucky. The Tuesday night School Board meeting was still set for 7:30 p.m.
Schools Superintendent Michael Wright said Radford students have had three weather days so far; they will add them onto the end of the school year, which had been set for June 13. "The biggest problem we have on a day like this is getting our parking lots cleared" so they're safe for students and staff. "It takes a good day to dig out from a storm like this," Wright said.
Staff writers Paul Dellinger, Brian Kelley, Kathy Loan, Rick Lindquist and Mara Lee contributed to this report.
by CNB